2008 WCOOP Event #20 Recap

I went broke not too long after my last post finishing about 900th out of 3,400. I hope there weren't too many people out there eagerly awaiting an update. If there were, sorry!

I made a move in kind of a marginal situation on my final hand. I was down to about 17,000 chips and there were 2,700 chips in blinds and antes in the pot so I took a shot with A9 from middle position. Like I said this was a marginal spot to make a move, but my table was SUPER tight and I knew that no one was going to jump the fence with 66. I think the players behind me would have folded hands as good as AJ and 88. As it turns out I ran into KK, missed, and that was it.

The thing that really did me in was just hours of garbage. The only thing that kept me in it was the fact that my table was so tight that I was able to steal the blinds enough to keep my head above water. If I'd been able to build up any kind of stack I would have decimated those players.

Also since I've been getting rocked the past few days I decided to skip the $530 Second Chance. It seemed like time for a break!

WCOOP Update

We're about 4.5 hours into Event #20. We started with 15,000 chips and for the first 2.5 hours or so I was hovering between 8,000 and 10,000. Then I picked up TT with the blinds at 300/600. The cutoff made it 1,800 and I reraised to 5,400. The flop came T55! BINGO! I thought it might be too suspicious to check so instead I bet out small firing 1,800 into the pot. My opponent just called and the turn came a blank.

I thought if I checked here it would look like I'd reraised with a hand like AK and had decided to give up on it. My opponent thought for a moment and then went all in with AJ. My plan worked perfectly, I instantly called and doubled up.

I won another nice pot when I called a min raise out of the small blind with K7 suited and made a flush. That one put me up to about 33,000, but since then I've faded down to 22,000. We're down to 1,100 players which means that half of the remaining field makes the money, but I have about half of average and am in 903rd place.

On the other hand the blinds are only 500/1000 so I have plenty of chips to continue for a while. I think I need 2 big hands to make the money with a comfortable stack and maybe just one to sneak in.

Event #20 Underway!

We started today's $1,050 NL Hold'em tournament with 3,467 players. When you consider that we all started with 15,000 chips and blinds of 25/50 it's not surprsing that they've made this one a two day event. The edge of the money is 540th place which pays $1,733. The top six spots all pay over $100,000 and first place is $468,045. At worst I'd give myself a 1 in 2,500 chance of outright victory despite the fact that I've lost a third of my stack already (I lost a top pair to a straight, top set to a straight, and had to bail on QQ on the turn on one hand).

In other news I've totally been getting my ass kicked the past three days. I've lost about $3,000 playing $10/$20 in only a few thousand hands and another $1,000 playing non WCOOP tournaments. As I'm sure you know, I've also gotten blanked in the WCOOP during that same stretch. It's been really miserable and I'm very much looking forward to a day off tomorrow.

Of course a nice finish is either the main WCOOP or the second chance (which is $530 NL Hold'em) could wipe all that away.

I'll keep you posted.

WCOOP Event #20 Preview

Event #20 is the big daddy of my schedule. $1,050 No Limit hold'em on a Sunday. They've guaranteed a $3,000,000 prize pool, but I wouldn't be surprised if more than 5,000 players enter. This one should have a half million dollar first prize! The other tournament running on Sunday is $25,500 heads up matches so that's why I'm only playing one tournament!

The thing I love about playing tournaments like this is the possibility that I could get the best run of cards I've ever had and win an insane amount of money no matter how I play. Of course I always expect to outplay the vast majority of my opponents and that's really why I'm playing. But what if I just got AA every half hour for the whole tournament? What if I just nailed every flop I saw? Even if I was only playing my B or C game I could still win outright with some great luck. While I'm hoping to play my A+ game and go deep no matter what cards I get, maybe a miracle run of cards will shove a fortune into my lap!

2008 WCOOP Event #18 ($215 HORSE) Recap

I finished 379 of 2091 in the $215 HORSE. I really got hosed in this one. I had my starting stack of 3,000 up to almost 30,000 at one point. This put me in 13th place with less that 600 players. Somehow I managed to catch a bunch of great starting hand that then turned into garbage. 304 places paid and it seemed a sure money finish when I had all of those chips. But somehow it didn't work out.

I also came up short in the $320 PL second chance which means I've come up short in my last 6 WCOOP or Second Chance tournaments. I'm still in the $162 HORSE second chance, but it's not looking good.

2008 WCOOP Event #17 Recap

I finished 372nd out of 960 in today's $530 6 handed PL tournament. It really all came down to one hand about 3 hours into it. With blinds of 100/200 I raised to 600 from the button with 99. The big blind made it 1,900 and I went all in for about 5,500. He had AT of diamonds. The flop came down J22, the turn was a blank and the river was a ten. Sometimes that's just how it goes down.

Event #17 Underway!

We started today's $530 PL hold'em 6 handed tournament with 960 players. An hour into it we're down to 724 and I've run my starting stack of 5,000 up to 9,200 which puts me in 148th place. It's been a volatile first hour and at one point I did have all my chips at risk in the pot, but I'm doing pretty well now.

The edge of the money is 144th and that pays $768. 9th is $8,400, 6th is $14,400 and 1st is $80,400. It doesn't possibly seem like I can go deep (and blow it!) again, but you never know.

2008 WCOOP Events #17 & #18

Event #17 is $530 Pot Limit Hold'em 6 handed. Initially I was thinking since this one is going off on a Saturday we could be looking at a huge field. But right now there are only 115 people signed up! I can't imagine any hold'em tournament in the WCOOP (except for the MEGA buy in ones) having less than 2,000 players, but I guess some people don't like pot limit and others don't like 6 handed. Of my 3 WSOP cashes two are in pot limit hold'em and the other was in six handed NL so you can guess how I feel about it. By game time we'll probably have at least 1,000, but that's still less that I might have thought.

Event #18 is $215 HORSE. Do we even have to play this thing or do they just want to give me the title ahead of time? Other than the 6 handed limit hold'em this is probably the tournament that I've had my eye on as a most likely cash. More than any HORSE tournament of the year, this one is likely to be populated with people who don't know how to play all the games.

If any of you backers out there want a small advance on your profits transferred to your pokerstars account let me know and I'll make it so. That way you can play a little yourself whilst enjoying the WCOOP drama or perhaps even win your way into a WCOOP tournament via satellite yourself!

2008 WCOOP Event #16 ($215 PLO with Rebuys) Recap

Once again there's good news and bad news. The bad news is I went broke in the Omaha finishing 887th of 1,232. The good news is I busted before I got a chance to do the add on so I was only in for $415.

I got off to a great start running my starting stack of 4,000 (after I did the one rebuy) up to about 8,000. But then I dropped off slowly but steadily. I kept getting a ton of marginal but playable hands and catching a piece, but not all of it.

In the final hand I got all of my chips in with a flush draw vs two players neither of whom had a set or any cards of the suit I needed. On the turn I even picked up an open ended straight, but the river was a brick and that was it.

I did win my first match in the $215 Second Chance HU Matches (which started with 252 players). It took a little luck on the end and 88 hands to dispatch my opponent. On the final hand I put all my chips in with second pair and ran into top pair. But I made trips on the end and am now awaiting my next opponent. Two more wins is worth $504.

2008 WCOOP Event #15 ($320 HU Matches) Recap

Well, I lost my first match. Crap! It lasted 46 minutes and 136 hands which is pretty long for one of these. I got paired against another supernova. I know he was a supernova because a few days ago they made it so you can display your VIP status right on your icon! Those of you who have been watching me may have wondered about the 5 stars under my picture. If I had 4 stars it would mean I was platinum, 3 for gold, 2 for sliver and 1 for bronze.

Despite being supernova this guy totally sucked! He was one of the most predictable opponents I've every played. When he bet big he had it and when he bet small it was a bluff. The only problem I had was trusting my read (and the fact that I made very few real hands). The people I normally play against are very crafty and it threw me off to play against someone so straightforward. I just couldn't believe that he would keep acting that way! Actually towards the end he did shift gears a little, but I still think I could have beaten him 8 times out of 10.

Maybe I'll have better luck in the $215 Heads Up Matches second chance!